The New York Jets hosted the Kansas City Chiefs on Sunday Night Football in a game many expected to be an easy victory for the defending Super Bowl champions. While the Jets surprised many by playing the Chiefs close, they would lose the game 23-20.
With the loss to the Chiefs, the Jets are now 1-3 after defeating the Buffalo Bills in their season opener. The offense showed signs of life on Sunday night, only for both sides of the ball to make inopportune mistakes.
Following another heartbreaking loss for the Jets, here are our six immediate takeaways from the Week 4 matchup against the Chiefs.
Zach Wilson produced one of his most efficient performances
Zach Wilson and the offense were downright awful in Weeks 2 and 3, but that wasn’t the case on Sunday night. To Wilson’s credit, he completed 28 of his 39 attempts (the most completions he’s had in a single game) for 245 yards and two touchdowns.
The Jets deployed a quick passing attack to avoid having Wilson holding onto the ball too long, and to allow the young quarterback to find a rhythm. A fumbled snap out of shotgun proved to be costly for Wilson late in the fourth quarter, though. Even though Wilson had one of the better performances of his career, it remains to be seen if he’ll remain the starter once veteran Trevor Siemian gets acclimated to the offense.
Breece Hall simply needs more touches
Similar to what we saw in Week 1, Breece Hall looked explosive out of the backfield for the Jets. The second-year back carried the ball only six times for 56 yards on the ground, along with three receptions for 13 yards in the passing game.
Getting only nine touches in a game decided by three points — especially with the success he was having — is mind-boggling despite Hall returning from a torn ACL he suffered last season. Aside from needing to continue manufacturing touches for Garrett Wilson, Hall also needs to be incorporated more into the offense if the Jets want to see more consistency from the offense.
The new starting offensive line was solid in protection
Amid injuries to the offensive line, the Jets announced a new starting five that consisted of (from left to right) Mekhi Becton, Laken Tomlinson, Connor McGovern, Joe Tippmann, and Alijah Vera-Tucker. As mentioned above, Nathaniel Hackett did deploy a quick-passing game that limited the amount of time Wilson was holding onto the football.
At the same time, the makeshift offensive line allowed two sacks and did a solid job keeping Wilson upright when airing the ball. As long as Duane Brown remains out, it appears the Jets will stick with the starting five they deployed on Sunday night versus the Chiefs.
Bryce Huff made his mark on the game despite not recording a sack
When looking at the box score for Bryce Huff, you would assume he didn’t make much of an impact in Sunday’s loss to the Chiefs. The fourth-year edge rusher finished with zero tackles and zero sacks, while also logging two quarterback hits on Patrick Mahomes.
Huff generated consistent pressure on Mahomes and he was part of the reason why New York’s defense was able to get off of the field at times. Whenever the Jets can force teams into obvious passing situations, good things tend to happen when Huff is rushing the passer.
The defense forced Patrick Mahomes into making unusual mistakes
While Wilson had one of the most efficient outings of his career, Mahomes had one of the most unusual performances of his. The superstar quarterback of the Chiefs completed 18 of his 30 attempts for only 203 yards, one touchdown, and two interceptions.
Both interceptions came on underthrown passes from Mahomes, with Ashthyn Davis and C.J. Mosley recording the interceptions for the Jets. Mosley should have had two interceptions on the night as he dropped an errant pass to Travis Kelce during the game, but the defense did a fantastic job making things difficult for Mahomes.
The defense also allowed back-breaking 3rd-and-longs late in the game
Once again, the defense of the Jets performed nearly as good as you possibly can against Mahomes and the Chiefs. On the other hand, the defense inexcusably gave up multiple third-and-long conversions late in the fourth quarter to seal the game.
Following Wilson’s fumbled snap, the Chiefs had two third downs where 20-plus yards were needed, and the Jets committed a penalty on one of them and then allowed Mahomes to run for the first down on another. And on a third-down and eight on New York’s side of the field, Mahomes would run for another first down after the two-minute warning before kneeling the ball to conclude the contest. Mahomes rushed for 51 yards on seven attempts on Sunday night, and most of those yards came on third downs.
